NUTS-3 DE80M · Germany
Population
156,6922025
GDP
€5,019M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,121.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE80M · DEF05
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Dithmarschen (Opportunity 47). Runner-up: Nordwestmecklenburg (46). Contrarian pick: Nordwestmecklenburg — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 69).
Why you might not pick Dithmarschen
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 18) — Nordwestmecklenburg may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Dithmarschen leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
46.0
46.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
47.8
40.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
52.8
55.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
54.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
54.7
53.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
22.3
35.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
51.2
42.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
1.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,033
€45,602
Population density
74 /km²
94 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,585M
€5,559M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€197M
€248M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,292M
€1,985M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,011M
€1,149M
GVA — construction (F)
€415M
€319M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€659M
€869M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€28,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
28,500 PPS
40,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,900
€45,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,049M
€27,063M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€885M
€2,460M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€30,582M
€61,661M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€923M
€970M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,099M
€1,168M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,201M
€5,041M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,260
€102,533
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,127M
€1,367M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
60,470
63,660
Self-employed persons
6,180
7,030
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,840
7,340
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.9%
80.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.3%
6.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.5%
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
76,600
68,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,175
5,348
Enterprise births
333
461
Enterprise deaths
401
433
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.1%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
4.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.3%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.4%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.6%
9.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.2%
21.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.4%
8.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,205,273
2,011,217
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
564 /1k
593 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,387 kt
10,081 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,731
1,081
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
26 km/1000km²
35 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1,105
810
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
88
82
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
94,257
81,190
Population aged 65+
42,071
35,084
Population aged under 15
20,364
17,186
Median age of population
50.5 yrs
50.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.6%
43.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.0 /1k
-0.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.9 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.6 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
14.5 /1k
14.4 /1k
Live births
871
899
Deaths
2,270
1,925
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
66.2%
64.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.29
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
76 /km²
96 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
134,009
117,160
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.5%
20.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.7 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,126 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
267 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
22.3 /100k
30.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
207 /100k
283 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
893 /100k
1,123 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
59 /M
29 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
49 m
1 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
56 days/yr
47 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
1 days/yr
3 days/yr